Quotable Quotations: “You Made Us for Yourself . . .”

24Nov

Photo by anitapeppers on Morgue File.

Today, I wish to share an oft-quoted quotation from St. Augustine that needs quoting again.

“Can any praise be worthy of the Lord’s majesty? How magnificent his strength! How inscrutable his wisdom!” Man is one of your creatures, Lord, and his instinct is to praise you. He bears about him the mark of death, the sign of his own sin, to remind him that you “thwart the proud”. But still, since he is a part of your creation, he wishes to praise you. The thought of you stirs him so deeply that he cannot be content unless he praises you, because you made us for yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you. (Augustine, Confessions, Bk. 1:1)